Hell Fire Wood & Massy's Estate

Killakee, County Dublin

The ruin of the Hell Fire Club sits on the top of Montpellier Hill and can be seen over a wide area of the city. You can read more about the Hell Fire Club here. The Hell Fire Wood is named after this ruin and is a mainly coniferous forest owned by Coillte, the state owned forestry company.

Massy's Estate is a deciduous wood across the Killakee Road from the entrance to the Hell Fire Wood. It contains the ruined formal gardens and other remnants of Lord Massy's House (now demolished). The wood is also owned by Coillte and is popular for walking and exploring the mature woodland landscape.

The first map of the area was produced by Setanta Orienteers in 1982. This was a small map and included Massy's Estate and the part of the Hell Fire Wood only as far as the Hell Fire Club. Future revisions included the entire Hell Fire Wood west of the club ruins. In recent times, separate maps have also been produced of Massy's Estate and the Hell Fire Wood. It continues to be a most popular orienteering venue.

There are also 2 Permanent Orienteering Courses (POC), set up in 2009 by Setanta Orineteers in conjunction with the Dublin Mountain Partnership and Coillte, in Hellfire and Massy's Estate. A POC is a number of permanent control points each with a wooden post, a red/white orienteering logo and a code number.  Many different orienteering routes can be created using these permanent controls and maps can be downloaded from the Coillte Outdoors website at Hell Fire Club & Massy's Estate.